Prince Malachi at the age of 21 is forced into an arranged marriage by his father when his brother refuses to marry the girl whose father saved the life of their father. Malachi meets his bride at their wedding ceremony and soon discovers she is no more interested in marrying him than he is in marrying her. However, he will obey his father and he promises Jessabelle he will be a faithful husband. At 19, Jessabelle has never even been on a date and now finds herself married to a royal prince. She is thrust into the public eye and a royal family when all she wants to do is blend into the background. She is not comfortable in her marriage or her position as a royal princess. Will she ever get over her insecurity and feel a sense of belonging in this royal family?

A mere three weeks after her wedding, her father dies. Jessabelle is still trying to adjust to being a wife and now she grieves for her father. Her mother died when she was a young girl, so now she feels all alone. Her husband is incredibly kind and respectful of her. He supports her any way he can. Jessabelle begins to have an inkling of what love might be like, but is far from letting down her emotional walls to let Malachi into her heart.

While I enjoyed this book, I wish I would have read the author’s other series about other members of the royal family as I felt I was missing some background on several of the characters that appeared in this book. Events and relationships were referred to that I didn’t know about. This didn’t detract from the writing or the plot of this story though I would have liked to know these details to enhance my reading experience. Prince Malachi was a wonderful prince and Christian man with a great deal of patience, compassion and empathy for his new bride. He was so gentle and loving toward her; he treated her as precious to him, but also reminded her that her identity came from God not man. I liked getting to know Jessabelle and see her grow into her place in the royal family. The relationship development between Jessabelle and Malachi was also very touching. I’m looking forward to future books in this series.

My rating is 4 stars.

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